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Water treatment options. water softner vs ???

16 years ago

I'm not sure if I am posting in the right area, so I apologize eforehand if this is not appropriate here.

We live in the country and have our own sandpont well. Our water is a *beautiful* rusty orange colour that stains everything due to Manganese in our water ( last year a water test came back with manganese levels of .49mg/l I understand taht under 0.05mg/l is the highest acceptable.

Anyway we have recieved conflicting advice on what type of treatment system we need ranging from a $500 water softner which I understand will remove the colour from the water to a $10,000 treatment system that is so out of budget it is unthinkable.

Drilling a new well won't help as there are numerous wells around us that all have the same problems.

Again I apologize if this is not the right area to post this and thank you very much for any input you may have.

Meghan~ with all the orange cloths, toilets and appliances!

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Comments (8)

User
16 years ago
It would be helpful to know the full analysis of your water before making recommendations. Hardness, pH, iron, tds, sulfur, sulfates, sediment, etc.

Assuming manganese/iron is your only problem, there are several options, including oxidation/filtration, greensand and pyrolox.

Of those, I prefer pyrolox because it will allow you to treat your water without handling any chemicals and is relatively small and easy to install, no more difficult than a common softener. You can google pyrolox and find a lot of good information about how it works. Cost is between $500 and $1000 depending upon the size of unit you need.

A softener, while it can remove manganese, is generally not designed to do so and will experience a shortened life-span if used for that purpose. Chemical oxidation followed by filtration is generally much more expensive to install, with extra equipment to maintain, and requires the homeowner to handle chemicals.

You may still want to have a softener installed, if your water is hard. A softener would be installed after the manganese removal system.
mmenzel
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you so much!! Below is a copy of my analysis that I got. I thank you so much for your time looking at this for me!!!

~Meghan
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I expected the OP to be bringing in a plumber to quote the job and make those observations and recommendations along with determining the necessary drain configuration. I was speaking to the generality of could the lines be run across the house and back and would it effect the softener. I defer to lazypup's expertise and knowledge... he is the plumbing expert. I can understand why a plumber would not be inclined to do a "site inspection" to address your concerns for free. A plumber's time is money whether writing or soldering. Have you considered buying for your softener from a local water treatment professional? They will come out and quote the hardware required and the install at no charge.
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No need for a larger brine tank as long as adequate time is allowed for salt to dissolve. RO: It should be easy enough to replumb your kitchen sink for soft water. This will do two things for you. It will provide you with the benefits of soft water at your sink and it will allow easy installation of an RO under the sink. However, if replumbing soft water to the sink is too difficult of expensive at this time, you can install the RO wherever you please and run tubing to a separate faucet at your sink or wherever you wish to have drinking water. Plastic tubing is cheap and easy to run. First preference should be to have soft water at the sink. Unless you have a SEVERELY sodium-restricted diet due to doctor's orders, soft water is not going to hurt you. You can always regen your softener with KCL (potassium salt) instead of NaCl (sodium salt) if sodium is a huge concern.
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Your water heater will heat whatever water you put through it. For the rest of your concerns, start by getting your water tested so you know what dealing with. You sound as if you're not quite sure right now. Maybe start by asking municipal supplier what they're delivering and take it from there. Softeners just soften whether with potassium or salt. Reverse osmosis may be a candidate for drinking water line and frig,, but nothing more. Magnets don't do anything. You'll probably want to put your irrigation outlets on an entirely different line so you're only treating household supply.
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User
16 years ago
You've cut off the table at the bootom of your image that defines the volume units...

hardness = 3 ( 3 what? Grains per gallon or PPM)

iron = .22 what?
mmenzel
Original Author
16 years ago
Sorry :::blush::: Here is the bottom of the page. Hope it helps :)
mmenzel
Original Author
16 years ago
Sorry :::blush::: Here is the bottom of the page. Hope it helps :)
User
16 years ago
Given the analysis of your water, I would get a Pyrolix unit installed to take care of the manganese and iron. It will look like a softener, a cylinder with a control valve on top. It will backwash periodically, but will not need any chemical addition. It has a catalyst that forces the iron and manganese into a form that can be filtered out, then the periodic backwash will flush out the filtered particles.

The next potential issue is hardness. At 3, your water is not very hard. Coupled with a pH of 6.5, you may not want a softener. Do you find that you get hard deposits in sinks, showers and your water heater? If so, you may want to consider a softener, but if not, a softener may be overkill for you. A softener will improve your water's ability to clean, but hardness of 3 is borderline for requiring softening.
mmenzel
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you!! I don't find out water hard at all, previously there was a softner here (still is installed but doesn't work) Periodically I fool around with it and can get it to do a cycle but not often. I actually don't mind the hardness of the water I don't have trouble with soap and don't seem to get hard water deposits anywhere... but maybe they are hidden under all the orange LOL

I had never heard of the Pyrolix I googled it and yes it sounds fabulous!!!

So now my dumb question... How does a person go about finding one? Are they sold through plumbing supplie stores or Home improvemnt tpe stores. LOL I really am a novice!!

Thanks again I really appreciate your time!!!
User
16 years ago
You should be able to find one through a local water treatment dealer. Failing that, many online vendors are available. Just make sure you can call and speak to a live person to help with sizing before ordering, and ensure they provide installation and setup instructions. It could be installed right where your existing softener is located. The inlet/outlet setup should be very similar.

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